SINCE fleeing Thailand nearly 10 months ago, former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra made her first public comments to thank her supporters for their birthday wishes.

The popular Yingluck, whose elected government was overthrown in 2014 by the army generals who still control Thailand, fled the kingdom last August during a criminal negligence trial that eventually sentenced her to five years in jail.

She has consistently denied accusations over her handling of a rice purchase scheme that ran up losses in the billions of dollars.

“This is the first birthday I have spent overseas,” Yingluck wrote on her official Facebook page, thanking Thais on her 51st birthday.

“I wish to thank the Thai people for still thinking of me.” She also updated pictures on her official Twitter and Instagram accounts.

The Shinawatra family remains influential in Thai politics, despite attempts by the military to stamp out their influence. Parties aligned with Thaksin have won every election since 2001 by appealing to poorer voters.

Yingluck fled the country last August, days before the Supreme Court was to decide her case. Sources in her Puea Thai Party said she fled to London via Dubai, where her brother, billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has a home.